Christmas in Thailand - flight prices?

[wirebound]

I know I'm only going to get vague responses but that's okay... we're a family of 4, 2 kids (ages 7 + 9) and two adults, looking to go to Phuket, Thailand over Christmas ... flying anywhere from the end of November through to returning at end of December or early January - so a month away. Anyone have a sense of what a "usual" price is for such a flight, or what a "good deal" is?

Ideally, it would include a stopover somewhere, ideally Japan but we're not picky ... could be HKG, could be Beijing, could be Seoul...

any sense of 'good' deals for this location over that time period?

Thanks!

[ahuch]

I just got back from Asia about two weeks ago now (travelling around, we spent three days in Phuket). It's a wonderful place, but have you ever been there before? I only ask because I'm not so sure I would bring a 7/9 year old kid there personally... although it's certainly manageable.

Expect prices to be quite high given that it's the busiest time of the year for air travel. I would personally recommend booking round trip tickets to somewhere in the region such as HKG and then another itinerary with a LCC such as AirAsia/DragonAir/etc to get to Phuket and back.

[wirebound]

I've never been to Thailand but my husband has spent a number of months there, on multiple occasions. We travel fairly often with the kids... but I'll definitely be reading more up on the area!

What's 'expensive' then ... Toronto > Phuket for 2K? 3K?

[ahuch]

I've never been to Thailand but my husband has spent a number of months there, on multiple occasions. We travel fairly often with the kids... but I'll definitely be reading more up on the area!

What's 'expensive' then ... Toronto > Phuket for 2K? 3K?

I would imagine $2000 per person would be a safe anchor for YYZ-HKG-HKT and back around the holidays. I see fares for roughly that on Cathay Pacific (which is an awesome airline, you can't go wrong!). I'm sure you can probably do better than that if you keep your eyes peeled and keep searching over the next few months.

As far as Phuket is concerned, I think a lot of it comes down to where you are staying. There are a lot of nice resorts which are more secluded that might work better for you. The biggest things that I would watch out for are traffic safety (especially important where children are concerned), and basically between 10pm and 6am a lot of areas (namely in Patong, especially around Soi Bangla) are basically a red light district - alcohol, prostitution, and partying is rather pronounced around this time.

[silicontraveler]

http://www.koreanair.com/